12 Fictional Supercomputers I Hope Never Materialize

If Google's server farm ever does assert its independence and decide the human race needs to do something other than look up cat videos, most science fiction fans would shrug and say: "Told you so." Artificial intelligence has the baddest of raps in science fiction, in big part because so many of these supercomputers tend to be so malicious. But look closer and you'll find in a lot of cases they're simply doing too good a job of being true to their programming, whether for good or ill. He

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Proteus from "Demon Seed"

Do supercomputers dream of electric babies? Apparently this one did. Give HAL from 2001 the voice of Robert Vaughn with a bad cold, name it Proteus IV, stick it in a high-tech house where he can spy on Julie Christie, and have it attempt to reproduce itself through her, thus opening itself up to the most convoluted paternity suit in history. The underlying idea is actually a fascinating one --a Von Neumann machine made flesh -- but the oh-so-'70s execution of the concept (right down to the 2001-style light show at the end) produces more giggles than chills.

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